How you can win a food and drink manufacturing Oscar

There’s still plenty of time to submit your winning entry in the Food Manufacture Excellence Awards (FMEAs), ahead of the July 29 deadline. So, here’s how to impress the judges and bring home a much-coveted food and drink manufacturing Oscar.

Good presentation certainly helps, but more important is supplying the judges with the nuts and bolts details of how managers boosted profit and/or cut costs, while stepping up product quality and service to customers.

The judges receive many entries, so focus on your key achievements and explain how delivering them by planning, determination and staff involvement.

Driving your business​

Tell the judges a story

Be specific

Show the judges the results

Three top tips to get your entry noticed are: tell a story, be specific and show us the results.

Tell the judges a story: entries that really stand out are those that tell a story. Has your business been confronted by a specific challenge, setback or opportunity? What did you do to overcome the challenge or grasp the new opportunity in food and drink manufacturing?

How did you engage your staff to become part of the solution to boosting efficiencies or cutting costs? How do you harvest the good ideas from the shop floor to turn them into profitable reality that benefits the bottom line.

Be specific. All details submitted on an entry form are treated in the strictest confidence. So, don’t hold back. Tell us precisely what you did and how you did it. Again, the judges want to hear detail in order to separate the winning entries from the very good ones. So, how did you deliver productivity gains while shaving costs, for example?

Show the judges the results: Britons tend to be modest but please break this habit in your Food Manufacture.co.uk entry form. Tell us what all your hard work – and that of your teams – achieved in driving your business to even greater success. All information supplied in the entry form will be held in the strictest confidence.

Credibility, reputation​

It’s worth a little effort and all the awards are free to enter. Winners of previous FMEAs – such as SK Chilled Foods – report a boost to credibility and reputation and claim they rewarded their workforce and gave them a sense of pride. Last year, meat processing giant ABP won the top title. "We are delighted to win such a prestigious award and to receive independent recognition for the many exciting innovative initiatives taking place across all of our sites," said a spokesman for the business.

“This was the first Food Manufacture ​awards I have been to, but I have been to lots of others and without a doubt this was the best managed,” said Tony Carter of Soupreme Foods. “The food was by far the best I have tasted.”

Why not submit your free entry here today? It must be completed by July 29 to be included in the next awards. Your entry might set you on the path to picking up a Food Manufacture ​Excellence Award at the rock-themed gala celebration evening at the Marriott Hotel, Grosvenor Square, West London on February 13.